One in three Canadians will do all their Christmas shopping online this year!

Posted on December 1, 2014.

One in three Canadians are looking to avoid the malls completely this year and do all their Christmas shopping online instead, a new survey commissioned by Google reveals.

The number of Canadians choosing to purchase their Christmas gifts online only has increased by 50 per cent compared to the previous year. A large proportion of shoppers will be researching the products they want to buy online too, reports therecord.com.

A similar poll, conducted for MasterCard Canada, supports Google’s research, as nearly one in three Canadians surveyed said they will be doing a least half of their Christmas shopping online this year. Ecommerce now represents around 6.7 per cent of total retail sales in the country, MasterCard estimates – a rise of 22.6 per cent compared to the same period of 2013.

Sarah Quinlan, head of market insights for MasterCard Advisors, said it’s surprising that a number of major retailers still aren’t operating online, despite the strong rise in ecommerce sales.

“It’s not about everybody shopping on ecommerce versus bricks and mortar, that’s not what we’re seeing,” she stated. “What we’re seeing is (online shopping) giving the consumer flexibility.”

Both Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales in Canada were set to attract even more shoppers this year, according to Google’s poll. Some 44 per cent of shoppers planned to partake in the event, either shopping on one or both of the days. Only 22 per cent showed an interest in Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2013, reports thestar.com.